ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
Designs for a golf course at Mowles Spring Park soon will be under way. Salem City Council voted Monday night to hire an architect for the job.
The city will spend $207,500 for Colonial Golf Design, Inc., led by architect Lester George, to design an 18-hole course in the 283-acre undeveloped park, part of which had been used as the city's landfill. If council continues its plans and builds the course, the city will pay an additional $37,500 to the Richmond-based architectural firm.
A consulting subsidiary of the National Golf Foundation told Council members in May that a golf course could be a money-maker for the city. Council members said Monday they were convinced that a golf course would be the best use for Mowles Spring Park.
But Councilmen Harry Haskins and Howard Packett said they wanted other uses of the land to be addressed by the architect, possibly by including cycling and hiking trails in the designs.
Whether to build a golf course or preserve it as a park became a contentious issue in recent City Council campaigns, and some candidates - including Haskins and Packett - said they would consider using the land for both.
"I think we owe it to the people of Salem" to study plans for both a golf course and park-like uses, Packett said. "There are tons of people who want us to look at that for something other than a golf course."
Vice Mayor Alex Brown said the city should proceed with a golf course and consider other uses later.
"If there's land left for that, we can pursue it at that point," Brown said. "It's a business decision. When you're a landlocked city with no place to go, you need to find different ways" to generate revenue.
Mayor Sonny Tarpley said he believed that in 10 to 15 years a golf course could support the entire budget of the city's parks and recreation department.
Salem was forced in 1993 to close a landfill it operated in Mowles Spring Park because of state regulations. And after using much of the park's earth to cap the landfill, the city deemed the park unfit for public use and closed it in 1994.
The city continues to pay as much as $35,000 a year to maintain the capped landfill.
Council members agreed Monday to have the architect - while proceeding with designs - determine whether park-like uses would affect the success of a golf course. Council also appointed Haskins to the committee that selected the architect to discuss park-like uses.
Once designs are complete and Colonial Golf Design estimates a cost - which could be as early as November- Council will decide whether to go ahead with a golf course and then request bids for construction.
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